Chapter 29
“You look tired,” Liv said, handing Kate a tin of mismatched buttons to sort into a plastic organizer TikTok had convinced her she couldn’t live without.
“I am.” Kate tipped the buttons out on the counter. “It seems to get crazier every day. More reader messages to reply to, more podcasts and online interviews.”
“But look at you handling it all like a pro,” Liv said. “Have you thought about what to do when all this ends?”
“Well, Prue is already talking about the idea of more Kate Darrowby books, but there’s no set plan.”
Liv frowned. “Written by the same author?”
Kate shook her head. “That’s the problem really. He’s got no interest in writing any more love stories.”
“Do you still think it could be Charlie?”
For reasons she couldn’t even explain to herself, she hadn’t told Liv that Charlie had been in Cornwall.
The relationship between them had slid straight back into professional mode on their return to London, just as it needed to.
And nothing had happened in Pink Cottage, except for the undeniable intimacy of sharing the sofa, and no one had been there to see and misconstrue it.
“I honestly don’t know, but there’s not a chance I could write anything up to scratch myself.”
“Not even those manuscripts we risked a criminal record for?”
Kate screwed her nose up. “They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good enough. Not in the same ballpark. Or even the same city. They’d have to hire a ghostwriter.”
Liv put her head on one side. “A ghostwriter for a ghost author?”
“Too many ghosts,” Kate said, unconvinced. The idea had been floated in one of the many emails between Kate, Charlie, and the publishing team since the Sunday Times listing. Prue was understandably keen to brand-build, but Kate had found herself unable to get on board with the team’s enthusiasm.
She’d taken the assignment because she wanted to share H’s beautiful story with the world. He’d spilled his soul onto the pages of the book, and as Kate Darrowby, she’d become a part of that story too. But Kate Darrowby was only ever supposed to be a once-around-the-sun deal.
“Weird,” Liv said, fastening a full-size T-Rex costume onto the display dummy.
“That’s actually quite intimidating,” Kate said, impressed.
“I got carried away,” Liv said. “Nish tried it on last night and scared the kids next door.”
Kate laughed at the image of her gentle brother-in-law causing a scene, then reached for her beeping mobile from the back pocket of her jeans.
One glance at the messages flying across her lock screen told her something was blowing her phone up, even by Kate Darrowby’s standards.
A call buzzed in from a number she didn’t recognize at the exact same time as a message from Charlie slid across the top of her screen.
Kate, don’t answer any calls from the press or reply to anyone online—I’m on the first train back from Edinburgh. Am talking to Prue and the team now. C x
“What the…?” she frowned, letting the call go to voicemail as she read Charlie’s message aloud to Liv. He was away at a film premiere with one of his biggest clients in Edinburgh, not due back for a couple of days. “I’ve no clue what he’s talking about.”
Liv pulled her mobile out too and clicked on Kate’s social media, ominously quiet as her thumbs flew over the screen.
“Oh God…” Kate whispered, trying to read her sister’s face for clues. “People know I didn’t write it, don’t they?”
A storm gathered in Liv’s blue eyes. “Did you tell Alice about the book by email?”
Kate couldn’t fathom the connection between her daughter and whatever was happening right now. “Every conversation we have lately seems to be Flynn-dominated. I just emailed her quickly in case she saw anything in the press.”
“And Flynn is the fabulous Aussie boyfriend she’s ready to throw her life in with, right?”
“Liv, you’re scaring me,” Kate said, spiraling. “Has something happened to her, or to them?”
“Not yet, but if Alice has any sense, she’ll find a deadly spider and put it in his fucking mouth while he sleeps.
” Liv laid her mobile screen down and put both hands flat on the counter in front of her sister, a stance that said she was about to rip the bandage off in one swift swoop.
“Flynn has sold a screenshot of your email to the press. It’s out there for everyone to see.
Your real name, your admission that you didn’t write the book, the fact that you’re a hired actor…
all of it. Pictures of you and Alice pulled from her social media too. ”
“Oh my God,” Kate breathed, pressing her hands against her hot cheeks. “Oh no, no, no.” Fear paralyzed her, Charlie’s words ringing in her head. This whole house of cards relies on the secret staying a secret.
Her mobile buzzed again.
“Don’t get it,” Liv said, lunging for it.
“I need to, it’s Alice.” Kate grabbed it back, clicking to join the video call. Her tearful daughter appeared, full of horror and apologies.
“He’s gone, Mum. Left a note telling me he’s sorry but the money was too good to turn down. He’s using it to set the surf shop up.”
“I hope he fucking drowns,” Liv said, thumping her fist down on the counter.
“I thought he loved me.” Alice crumpled, sounding about five years old.
“I know, darling, I know,” Kate said. “I wish I could reach into the screen and give you the most massive hug right now.”
“Are you mad at me?”
Alice’s broken sob brought a lump to Kate’s throat. “Of course I’m not. I’m mad as hell at him, but none of this is your fault.”
“I’ll get the next train home, tell everyone what he did,” Alice said, her voice faltering through fresh tears.
“Darling, you can come home whenever you want to, but you’re not talking to the press or anyone else,” Kate said, intentionally sharp to cut through Alice’s emotion.
“You were loving the life you’ve built up there before Flynn turned up.
Is he really worth losing all of that for?
I’ll tell you the answer to that question—it’s no.
Absolutely not. Everything will blow over here, you need to concentrate on feeling better right now, tonight.
Are you with people? Do you have friends who can stay with you? ”
Alice sniffed, nodding. “I’m more worried about you than me,” she said. “I’ve ruined everything.”
“And I’m more worried about you than me,” Kate said.
“The job is pretty much over anyway—the book is out there selling like hotcakes with or without me. Even hotter cakes now, probably.” She tried to laugh, to inject a lightness she didn’t feel in order to make her daughter feel safe.
Default parent mode, smile even while your world falls apart.
“Promise me you’ll go out tonight? Go and be with your friends, call that absolute twatbag all the names under the sun, dance him out of your system. ”
Alice nodded, wiping her eyes with the hem of her T-shirt. “I love you, Mum.”
“Love you more. I’ll call you in the morning.” Kate blew a kiss just before the screen went black, then sank down onto the nearest stool and covered her face with her hands. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Liv’s arm snaked around her shoulders. “Let’s sit tight and see what Charlie says.”
“Oh, what can he say?” Kate said, getting up to pace the shop floor, her mobile in her hand. “It’s done. There’s no point in trying to deny it. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle.”
Liv fell uncharacteristically quiet.
“Christ, people are really going to hate me.” Kate started doomscrolling through social media and found it was every bit as awful as she feared.
Her pages were swamped with readers wanting to know the truth, long threads on book clubs picking over every sentence of her email confession, snippets of her appearance on the Good Morning Show.
“She’s definitely an actor,” someone said, “she had me fooled.” “Was everything she said just one big lie?” someone else asked.
“If she didn’t write it, who did?” Everyone wanted to know and speculation was already rife, names being thrown around like confetti.
“No one hates you,” Liv said. “It’s just the bloody internet, feeding gossip and fueling the fire unnecessarily. It’ll calm down in a few days, it always does.”
Kate tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. “I went on bloody TV, Liv. People have been coming up to me in the street to talk about it, and now they’ll want to talk about this instead. I’ll be heckled, called a fraud.” She sat down hard, shoulders slumped over. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Wait for Charlie,” Liv said, rubbing her back. “And for God’s sake get off social media, you’re going to drive us both nuts.”